E-commerce websites where customers can view and order products for delivery have existed for years. More recently, websites have been introduced that allow a customer to customize a product with graphics to be printed on the product prior to delivery. For example, online printing services such as VistaPrint.com may offer products such as business cards, postcards, pens, t-shirts, and other products that may be printed with a user-customized design. Typically, these websites allow the user to first review uncustomized images of the various products that are available from the provider. When the user selects a specific product to customize, the sites typically provide online tools allowing the user to provide the text that the user desires to appear on the customized product. The user is also typically allowed to either upload a full color image from the user's computer to be incorporated into the product design and/or to select from a number of decorative designs, images, and other graphic elements that are provided for the user's use by the printing services provider. Images of the user text entries and the user-selected decorative elements, collectively referred to herein as “design images” are combined with the basic product image to create a composite image indicating the appearance of the printed product. When the design is completed to the user's satisfaction, the user can place an order through the site for production of a desired quantity of the corresponding printed product.
Images and graphics offered on a website or uploaded by a user are typically “flat” images—that is, a flat image displayed on a user's computer screen will appear substantially the same as it will appear when printed on a flat surface (for example, a business card or postcard). Thus, when a flat image is printed on a flat surface, it will not appear distorted. However, because a curved surface cannot be projected onto a flat plane without distortion, when a flat image is printed on a curved surface, the image itself will appear distorted. To avoid customer disappointment, it is desirable that the image of the product that is displayed to the customer on the customer's computer display be a substantially accurate representation of the physical product that the user will later receive. This is especially true when the image the customer intends to print is to be printed on a curved surface, such as a hat or ball.
To minimize the risk of customer surprise and disappointment when the printed product is delivered, it is highly desirable that the customer be shown an image of the product that is as accurate a depiction of the physical product as possible. There is, therefore, a need for systems and methods that modify a design image according to the shape of a product on which the design image is to be printed or displayed, and that combines and displays the modified image with an image of the actual product to give the customer a visual indication of how the design image will appear on the surface of the product on which the design image will actually be being printed or displayed.